Lawyer, politician. He was born in
He started to get involved in
politics during his university years. He was the president of the youth section
in the political party where he was a member of and also the provincial
chairman. Bülent Arinç was elected as a Manisa Deputy from the Welfare Party
(WP) in December 24, 1995 general elections. He was the member of WP Central
Decision Making and Executive Council.
During his first term as deputy, he
took part in TGNA Justice Committee and Turkey-EU Mixed Committee. After the WP
was shut down by
Bülent Arinç has acted together with
Kayseri Deputy Abdullah Gül, who was a member of "Reformist Wing"
group and supported Abdullah Gül as the candidate to become the new leader of
party at First VP General Congress on May 14, 2000.After VP was shut down by
the Constitutional Court on 22.6.2001; those deputies who were members of the
"Reformist Wing" have established Justice and Development Party on
14.8.2001 under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Bülent Arinç was
among the founders. He became TGNA JDP Group Deputy Chairman.
He was elected from Manisa in 2002
and 2007; and from
His name was among those for President
for 2007 Presidential elections; but he said he will not be a candidate and
waived in favor of Abdullah Gül. After July 22 General Elections, he was not a
candidate for Parliament Chair. There was a revision on May 1, 2009 and Arinc
became the Vice Prime Minister; then he was assigned as vice prime Minister and
government spokesperson in 61st Government of Turkey after 2011
General Elections. Bülent Arinç was not a candidate in June 7, 2015 elections
due to the rule of three terms. He is still the Vice Prime Minister, which
began on August 29, 2014.
He speaks proficient English and he
is the father of three children (2 sons, 1 daughter) and married with Munevver
Arinç. His son Mehmet Fatih Arinç lost his life in a traffic accident that
occurred in 1997.